Scaling of cross sections in ion-atom collisions

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:200409

DuBois, R D ^[1]

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1. Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)

What mechanisms dominate in ionizing collisions can be determined by investigating how differential and total cross sections scale as a function of the projectile charge. For example, it is well known that when first-order, perturbative, coulomb forces dominate, the target ionization cross sections scale quadratic with the charge of the incident projectile. This is generally the case for structureless projectile impact. On the other hand, for dressed and molecular ion impact the structure of the projectile strongly influences which ionization mechanism dominates and, hence, how the cross sections scale. As an example for dressed ion impact, cross section scaling can determine whether the bound projectile electrons serve primarily to partially screen the incoming nuclear charge or whether they primarily interact directly with target electrons. In the case of molecular ion impact, it can be determined whether the individual nuclei and bound electrons act in a coherent, or in an incoherent, manner? Examples of experimental data relating to these processes will be presented and discussed.

• OSTI ID: 200409
• Report Number(s): CONF-941129--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
CHARGE STATES
DIFFERENTIAL CROSS SECTIONS
ION-ATOM COLLISIONS
SCALING LAWS
TOTAL CROSS SECTIONS